iPhone sales in China down 5.8% year-over-year in quarter one

Apple’s iPhone sales in China are down 5.8% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2022, according to the IDC research group.

According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, 74.2 million smartphones shipped in China in the quarter, down 14.1% year-on-year. The research group says the decline was not only the result of a high comparison base year but also due to a continued soft demand caused by the lack of product upgrades and the surge of the COVID-19 cases. 

IDC says that “looking into the full-year 2022, the market has a downside risk of shipping less than 300 million smartphones if it continues to see an absence of a fresh stimulus.”

Apple’s iPhone sales slowed in quarter one of 2022 after achieving a high number of shipments in the previous quarter. The higher-end iPhone 13 Pro series also took a lower portion of the product mix, with iPhone 13 accounting for more than 55% of shipments after Apple’s launch peak season. Halts in Shanghai and Kunshan led to some disruptions in the new iPhone SE’s production, but the events had an “insignificant impact” on the product’s sales performance locally, according to IDC.